{"id":149561,"date":"2021-10-12T09:40:10","date_gmt":"2021-10-12T19:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=149561"},"modified":"2021-10-12T09:40:10","modified_gmt":"2021-10-12T19:40:10","slug":"780k-for-covid-variant-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/10\/12\/780k-for-covid-variant-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Research predicting transmissible COVID-19 variants receives $780K"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Tropical Medicine Clinical Laboratory at JABSOM<\/abbr>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, a prime tourism destination, in combination with its largely multi-racial resident population, presents a unique opportunity to identify and chart the distribution of SARS-CoV-2 variants, the virus that causes the coronavirus disease. The National Institutes of Health has committed $779,792 for two years to the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa John A. Burns School of Medicine<\/a> (JABSOM<\/abbr>) toward advancing public impact research on the spread and continuing evolution of SARS-CoV-2 variants in the state\u2019s underserved communities. <\/p>\n

We want to further understand why certain variants are so much more transmissible than others.
—Vivek R. Nerurkar<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The study, “Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2<\/abbr> Variants in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>,” is part of the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> IDeA Networks for Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE<\/abbr>) program<\/a>. It is based on the prediction that additional variants will be found in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> because of its high influx of recreational travelers from COVID-19 hotspots.<\/p>\n

Vivek R. Nerurkar<\/strong>, professor and chair of JABSOM<\/abbr>\u2019s Department of Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology & Pharmacology<\/a>, leads a team of graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and bioinformaticians, including the INBRE<\/abbr> Bioinformatics Core group, in sequencing and analyzing the genetic information of these variants circulating throughout the state. <\/p>\n

“We want to further understand why certain variants are so much more transmissible than others,” said Nerurkar, who has spearheaded COVID-19 diagnostic testing among the underserved and vulnerable populations in the state.<\/p>\n